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The effect of ozone on deoxynivalenol (DON) detoxification was investigated. Ozone treatment could significantly reduce the levels of DON in wheat; 53% of DON in wheat was decomposed with 90 mg l -1 of ozone at a flow rate of 15 l min -1 for 4 h. The safety of DON-contaminated wheats (DCWs) untreated/treated by ozone was also evaluated. Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were divided into a standard diet group and five experimental diet groups for a 51-day orally administration experiment. In the experiment, no remarkable changes in the general appearance of the mice were observed, and all the mice survived until the scheduled necropsy. The results of sub-chronic toxicity indicated that mice fed on DCWs alone had significantly decreased in body weight gain, thymus and spleen weights, ratios of liver, thymus and spleen to body weight, blood indices (red blood cell, haemoglobin, white blood cell), and pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)), while showing a significant increase in alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, blood creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels. Histopathological examination indicate that DON elicited some degree of toxicity on the liver, kidney and thymus tissue. Mice fed on DCWs treated by ozone mitigated the adverse effects compared with mice fed on DCWs. All the results suggested that the deleterious effects of DON could be highly reduced by ozone, and ozone itself shows minor toxic effects on animals in this process.

Zearalenone (ZEN) and ochratoxin A (OTA) are secondary toxic metabolites of fungi that can contaminate a wide range of food and feedstuff. In this study, the effects of ozone treatment on ZEN and OTA and the quality of ozonised corn are investigated. Ozone significantly affects ZEN and OTA solutions. ZEN was undetectable 5 s after being treated with 10 mg l -1 ozone. However, OTA was resistant to ozonation with a degradation rate of 65.4% after 120 s of treatment. Moreover, ZEN and OTA solutions were difficult to degrade after being dried by a nitrogen stream. Results showed that ozone effectively degraded ZEN and OTA in corn. The degradation rates of ZEN and OTA in corn increased with ozone concentration and treatment time. The degradation of ZEN and OTA at different ozone concentrations appropriately conformed to first-order kinetics with an R 2 value > 0.8749. Furthermore, under the same conditions, corn with increased moisture content (MC) (19.6%) was more sensitive to ozone than corn with a low MC (14.1%). When treated with 100 mg l -1 ozone for 180 min, ZEN and OTA in corn with 19.6% MC decreased by 90.7% and 70.7%, respectively. To evaluate the quality of ozonised corn, subsequent quality experiments were conducted using corn samples treated at different times with 100 mg l -1 ozone. The MC of corn decreased after ozone treatment. The whiteness and yellowness of the corn increased and decreased with increasing time, respectively. The fatty acid value of the corn increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) after 180 min of treatment. This study verified that ozone can effectively degrade ZEN and OTA in corn, but slightly affected corn quality.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a secondary metabolite produced by Fusarium fungi, which is found in a wide range of agricultural products, especially in wheat, barley, oat and corn. In this study, the distribution of DON in the wheat kernel and the effect of exposure time to ozone on DON detoxification were investigated. A high concentration of toxin was found in the outer part of the kernel, and DON was injected from the outside to the inside. The degradation rates of DON were 26.40%, 39.16%, and 53.48% after the samples were exposed to 75 mg/L ozone for 30, 60, and 90 min, respectively. The effect of ozonation on wheat flour quality and nutrition was also evaluated. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in protein content, fatty acid value, amino acid content, starch content, carbonyl and carboxyl content, and swelling power of ozone-treated samples. Moreover, the ozone-treated samples exhibited higher tenacity and whiteness, as well as lower extensibility and yellowness. This finding indicated that ozone treatment can simultaneously reduce DON levels and improve flour quality.

Maize stover was ozonolyzed to improve the enzymatic digestibility. The interactive effect of sample particle size and moisture content on ozonolysis was studied. After ozonolysis, both lignin and xylan decreased while cellulose was only slightly affected in all experiments. It was also found that the smaller particle size is better for ozonolysis. The similar water activity of the different optimum moisture contents for ozonolysis reveals that the free and bound water ratio is a key factor of ozonolysis. The best result of ozonolysis was obtained at the mesh of -300 and the moisture of 60%, where up to 75% lignin was removed. The glucose yield after enzymatic hydrolysis increased from 18.5% to 80%. Water washing had low impact on glucose yield (less than 10% increases), but significantly reduced xylose yield (up to 42% decreases). The result indicates that ozonolysis leads to xylan solubilization., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Two clean pretreatments, ozonolysis (OZ) and planetary ball milling (BM) were applied separately and in combination to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis of corn straw. Pretreatment of corn straw by OZ and BM alone improved the enzymatic hydrolysis significantly, primarily through delignification and decrystallization of cellulose, respectively. When combined, OZ-BM and BM-OZ pretreatments made the enzymatic hydrolysis more efficient. The glucose and xylose yield of corn straw treated with OZ for 90 min followed by BM for 8 min (OZ90-BM8) reached to 407.8 and 101.9 mg/g-straw, respectively under cellulase loading of 15 FPU/g-straw, which was fivefold more than that of untreated straw. Under much lower cellulase loading of 1.5 FPU/g-straw, the glucose and xylose yield of treated straw OZ90-BM8 remained at 416.0 and 108.4 mg/g-straw, respectively, while the yield of untreated straw decreased. These findings indicate that the combined OZ-BM can be used as a promising pretreatment for corn straw., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Corn, which is one of most important agricultural products worldwide, is prone to pollution by aflatoxins (AFs) in many areas, thus seriously jeopardizing human health and threatening economic growth. This study evaluated the effects of ozone on the detoxification of AFs in corn flour (CF) and the moisture content (MC) thereof., Results: The detoxifying effects of ozone on CF became more obvious as the ozone concentration and exposure time increased. After CF was treated with 75 mg L(-1) ozone for 60 min, the contents of AFB1 , AFG1 and AFB2 decreased from 53.60, 12.08 and 2.42 µg kg(-1) to 11.38, 3.37 and 0.71 µg kg(-1) , respectively, which are lower than the maximum limits of AFB1 , AFG1 , AFB2 and total AFs (20 µg kg(-1) ) for CF regulated by the Chinese government. Ozonation significantly affected the MC of CF, and ozone at a higher concentration decreased the MC more drastically. After CF was exposed to 15, 30, 45 and 75 mg L(-1) ozone for 60 min, the MC of CF decreased from 17.4% to below 15%, fulfilling the long-period storage requirements for CF., Conclusion: Ozone is potentially applicable in effectively degrading the AFs in CF and in greatly decreasing the MC of CF., (© 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Analysing the products of ozone-treated aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is essential in order to study the practical use of ozone treatment. In this paper, the products of AFB1 were investigated using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Q-TOF MS). The products were well separated using UPLC, and the accurate masses of all the products were determined using Q-TOF MS. Finally, the possible pathways of fragmentation ion generation from the products of AFB1 and the structures of four products were proposed. From the view of the proposed structures of products, the C8-C9 double bond in the terminal furan ring was destroyed. According to the structure-activity relationship, the toxicity of products was significantly reduced compared with that of AFB1. The result indicated that ozone was an effective agent for degrading AFB1, and UPLC Q-TOF MS was a useful analytical tool for proposing and identifying a series of unknown products.

Analysing the products of ozone-treated aflatoxin B1(AFB1) is essential in order to study the practical use of ozone treatment. In this paper, the products of AFB1were investigated using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Q-TOF MS). The products were well separated using UPLC, and the accurate masses of all the products were determined using Q-TOF MS. Finally, the possible pathways of fragmentation ion generation from the products of AFB1and the structures of four products were proposed. From the view of the proposed structures of products, the C8-C9 double bond in the terminal furan ring was destroyed. According to the structure–activity relationship, the toxicity of products was significantly reduced compared with that of AFB1. The result indicated that ozone was an effective agent for degrading AFB1, and UPLC Q-TOF MS was a useful analytical tool for proposing and identifying a series of unknown products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the wide existence of mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat and derived products, finding ways to detoxify DON in wheat grains as original resources for food-chain contamination is very important to protect human health and reduce economic losses. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of destroying DON in wheat via ozonation under different conditions, such as moisture content (MC), ozone concentration, exposure time, and form of raw-material. The achieved data showed that DON reduction significantly improved with increased ozone concentration and exposure time. The whole wheat flour (WWF) was easier to degrade than the wheat kernels. Higher MC decreased larger amounts of DON. The maximum reduction of DON was 20.10% for the MC group, compared with the 11.79% and 16.29% for the other MC groups. DON concentration decreased from 3.89 mg/kg to 0.83 mg/kg under the generally recognized Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) level of 1 mg/kg, when WWF was treated with 100 mg/L of ozone treatment for 60 min. The first-order kinetic model established in this work showed a good R -squared value (R 2 > 0.877) and was consistent with the results. Therefore, ozonation is an effective and rapid way to degrade DON in wheat, especially in whole wheat flour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper studies the ozone treatment effect on degradation of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in corn with different moisture content (MC). The toxicity of the degradation products (DPs) of the ozone-treated AFB1-Contaminated Corn (ACC) was also evaluated using the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2) as model cells. The degradation rate of AFB1 in corn increases with ozone concentration and treatment time. The results showed that ACC with 13.47% MC was easier to be degraded by ozone than with 20.37% MC. Treated with 90 mg L−1 ozone for 20 min and 40 min, AFB1 in corn with 13.47% MC decreased from 83 μg kg−1 to 18.12 μg kg−1 and 9.9 μg kg−1, respectively, well meeting the China National Standard of AFB1 in corn (20 μg kg−1). In order to evaluate the safety of ozone used on ACC, the impacts of AFB1 as well as untreated and ozone-treated ACC with the same level of AFB1 content on HepG2's survival rate, morphology, and apoptosis were studied. The results showed that ACC had high cell toxicity while the toxicity of ozone-treated ACC had no significant difference with that of the AFB1-free culture solution. It is concluded that ozonation can quickly and effectively degrade AFB1 in corn and diminish ACC's toxicity, and therefore, ozonation is expected to be an effective, fast, and safe method for AFB1 degradation in ACC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]